


Moss and Silk Spitters

by loyalmaudraz



Category: The Dark Crystal (1982), The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Alliances, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Peace, Pregnancy, War flashbacks, another rian/deet fic I KNOW but it's cute i promise, cute family, minimal angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24670357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loyalmaudraz/pseuds/loyalmaudraz
Summary: A little commission I did for one of my favorite artists on tumblr! Just some happy family fluff and a visit to our favorite Grottan caves!
Relationships: Deet/Rian (Dark Crystal)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Moss and Silk Spitters

**Author's Note:**

> Canon divergence drabble: toddler Jen is hungry for some glow moss, and when it's discovered they're all out, a heavily pregnant Deet makes a suggestion for a long trip to get some much to an anxious Rian's dismay.

Deet reached to pick another peachberry from a low-hanging branch, only to look down upon feeling a tug on her dress.

Beside her was young Jen, looking up at her with wide eyes as bold and blue as his father's, a pout on his lips, and little hands fisted into her skirts.

Deet smiled at the endearing sight of her son before her. "Well hello, my little Fizzgig." she greeted the childling. She ran her gentle fingers over the messy head of Grottan-blonde hair, which indeed resembled the furry beasts that roamed the Stonewood village. It was the only physical trait he'd inherited from his mother, but the dark roots and tufts of blue-green highlights hinted he would soon be the spitting image of his father, long dark locks and all in the trine to come.

Jen pressed closer into her side, his little face burrowing into the soft fabric of her dress while not once breaking eye contact with her.

"I'm hungry." he stated, nearly muffled by the nurloc rump material.

"Are you now?" Deet asked playfully, reaching into the basket that hung at her arm. "Well, I've got some delicious peachberries if you'd like one!"

Much to her surprise, Jen shook his head and batted his hand at the fruit offered to him. Deet frowned and slowly replaced it in the basket. "Oh... well," 

She thought for a moment, looking around the garden for anything to satisfy the little boy before their next meal.

"How about some nice bush berries, hm? You love those, don't you?"

Again, however, Jen grimaced at the ripe red and purple morsels she gestured to and shook his head. "No berries. Moss."

"Moss?"

Jen looked back up and smiled, nodding. "The one that makes your face blue!"

Deet had to think. There was plenty of moss in the endless forest that could turn one's face blue, and not in a good way. Then, she remembered.

"Oh! You want some glow moss!" she happily pointed out, and Jen nodded enthusiastically, his smile brighter as he jumped up and down, sill holding onto her dress.

"Yea! Yea! Glow moss! Glow moss!" he exclaimed in his little childling voice which made Deet laugh with a joy that matched his own.

"All right, let's see if we have any, shall we?"

It didn't take any convincing for the Stonewood-Grottan childling to grab his mother's hand and eagerly pull her toward the back entrance to the cottage.

"Be careful, Jen." Deet warned him gently. "Mummy can't go very fast, remember?"

He released her hand to pull the door open, and she rested it on the full moon of a belly protruding from her front. It wouldn't be long now before the new youngling was due, and Rian had been especially adamant about Deet getting as much rest as possible. As much as she loved him for his concern, she was silently relieved to have gotten some time in the garden while he was on early morning patrol around the village, not there to scold her for being on her feet.

Once inside the house, Deet searched the cabinets and food stores her small son practically at her hip. She frowned, however, as there was no scrap of the luminescent plant anywhere. Though it was plentiful deep in the Endless Forest that surrounded their home, it was somewhat of a rarity nowadays that any of them ate it , because it was at least a half-a-day's trip into the woods get it, much to Jen's disappointment.

Deet saw his blue eyes grow teary, and her heart dropped.

"Oh, no, don't cry, little nurloc!" she hushed. She carefully leaned down to cup his cheeks, and a few tears trickled down his face. She gently wiped them away, smiling sympathetically. "Your father doesn't have patrol tomorrow. I'm sure he'd be glad to take you into the forest and gather all the glow moss you want! Would that be good? Yeah?"

Just as Jen nodded, the ornate front door to the home opened, and in walked Rian, donning light armor with his long brown hair tied back. Jen's face lit up again upon seeing him and the boy ran to him at such a speed, Rian had barely any time to lean his spear against the wall next to the doorway before his son barreled into his legs, nearly causing the warrior to topple over.

"Well, hello to you, too." he laughed. Jen released Rian's legs, only to grab his sleeve and tug on it as he had his mother's dress, looking up at him with wide pleading eyes.

"Da! Da! Can we pick glowy moss tomorrow?! Please? Can we?"

Rian's eyes widened a bit at the sudden request, but he smiled and nodded. "Well, I don't see why not! Though I could have sworn we still had some in our stores..." He looked to Deet who shook her head.

"So did I, but it's so hard to get we don't have it very often, and I suppose our minds have been too crowded with other things - " She placed her hands on her belly, smiling. " - to keep track of it."

Rian smiled at his wife. He removed his scabbard and locked it back in the small armory along with his nearly-forgotten spear. He walked over to Deet, rest his hands on her own and kissed her grinning lips.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to get out of the village for a day. It's a date, then." he looked back over to Jen, who smiled widely and cheered, jumping for joy. Rian laughed and lifted his son, throwing him in the air and catching him, making the boy screech more joyfully and laugh along with his father, who rested him on his hip.

"First thing tomorrow, we'll head into the woods. It will be a long trip, and we can't stay long, but we'll bring back enough glow moss to last us the rest of summer!" he promised. "Oh, and perhaps Kylan and Kira would like to come with us!"

Jen gasped and bounced on Rian's hip with excitement. "Yea! Kira! I want to see Kira!"

Rian chuckled. He loved how close Kira and Jen were - at such young ages, too. They were practically inseparable, and even the citizens of Stone-in-the-Wood would tell Rian from time to time that they were sure they'd never seen a bond so strong between two childlings. It was a beautiful thing to see, after everything the entirety of the Gelfling race had gone through. Rian couldn't have agreed more.

"That's it, then. We'll go - " He looked back at Deet, who suddenly seemed deep in thought, her gaze slightly averted. " - and Brea can stay here with you while we're gone... Deet?"

"Hm?" she hummed, looking back at him "Oh, sorry, I got distracted." She offered him a smile, but there was something slightly off about it.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, watching her with concern. "We'll be sure to get back before the Suns set, if that's what you're worried about."

"No, no, it's not that." Deet assured him. "I was just thinking... maybe we could go somewhere else to find moss? Just us, as a family?"

Rian's brow pinched in confusion. "Where else could we..." Then, his face dropped with realization. There was only one other location in all of Thra where the precious glowing plant could be found besides the depths of the Endless Forest. "Deet, no - "

Deet was prepared for that answer, however, and cut him off. "I know it's a long trip, Rian - "

"Exactly." Rian said, hardening his gaze as he set Jen down. He quietly told him to go play with his toys on the other side of the room before turning back to her with unwavering seriousness in his eyes. "Long, and dangerous."

Deet sighed. "Oh, please, it's not like we've never traveled to Grot from Stone-in-the-Wood."

"The last time we did, we didn't have a childling with us, nor one on the way." he pointed out, stepping closer to her. "Do you have any idea how difficult it would be to navigate those tunnels, as close as you are and with a rather... ahem, clumsy little one?"

Deet sighed again. He spoke true; she had the advantage of seeing in the dark, but it usually took Rian a while to adjust to the lack of sunlight, and he stumbled around enough on his own in the caves, usually leaving her to be the one guiding him. Now that she was heavily pregnant, and their first childling was, as he said, clumsy enough as it was in the daylight, it would prove to be a slightly riskier journey than usual.

"I know." She whispered, her hands landing on his shoulders. "But it's been so long since I've seen my home. Jen's never been to the Caves of Grot, my fathers are always the ones to come and visit us, and they had to make the trip with Bobb'N and Maudra Argot when he was born."

"Deet..." Rian sighed.

"Please, Rian. I want to go back, even if it's just for a day, before I have another childling to look after. I love it here, I do, but..."

"I know, Deet, I know, I just..." Rian looked down, and laid his hands on the swell of her abdomen. It was a long moment before he spoke again. "After everything that happened... the Resistance... I know Grot is your home, and you have such fond memories there, but the things that happened the first time I was there - "

"Happened a long time ago." Deet reminded him. "Things are different there now, Rian, you know that."

"I just don't want you getting hurt." he asserted. He looked deep into her dark eyes, then over his shoulder at Jen, who played with a wooden nurloc toy, unaware of the somber conversation taking place between his parents. He looked back, and down at her belly, his eyes suddenly looking on the verge of tears. "Any of you."

"We won't." Deet pressed. She lifted a hand to cup the side of his head. One of his hands reached to join it, and he leaned into her touch. She grinned.

"Now quit your worrying... Sky Baby."

A laugh broke from Rian's lips, and he looked into her eyes again, shaking his head. "Well, if you're going to call me names..." He suddenly nibbled at her neck, making her squeal with laughter and attempt to push him away. He finally did pull away after a few seconds, only to lean in for another deep kiss. "Are you sure about this?" he asked once they pulled away, serious once again. "There's still plenty of moss deep in the woods, and it will be a much easier trip for you to make in your state." Deet only smiled, with a glint in her eye. "Where's the fun in that?" She looked over his shoulder to Jen. "Besides," she whispered, "Jen needs any opportunity to explore as much of Thra as he can. He can't just know one place his whole life." Rian sighed, and looked with her. As he watched his young son, he couldn't help but feel unnerved not just by how much the little boy looked like him, but also how much happier he looked compared to the younger version of him. Rian hadn't been much older than Jen when his mother was returned to Thra, and not long after which was he suddenly taken from the haven that was Stone-in-the-Wood, to a cold, obsidian castle, where his war-torn and grieving father kept him ever since. From that day on, Rian had only known the safety behind the palace walls, the walk and talk of the Guards Ordon commanded, one of which he was immediately trained to become once he came of age. Rian hadn't known much happiness in that time, he wasn't allowed as much freedom as many Gelfling boys his age... he didn't want that for Jen. He didn't want his son to grow up in one space, unable to see Thra for itself until he had no choice, thrown into a war that tore that very world apart. They had been lucky. The Skeksis were defeated, the Darkening cured... but the Gelfling were lucky to have achieved such victories. Would Jen be as fortunate, should anything remotely similar happen? Rian decided he wasn't going to take that chance, and nodded. "All right, then." he agreed. "To Grot we go, first thing in the morning."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Surprisingly, when they arrived, the Caves of Grot were not as dark and hard to navigate as they had been before. It seemed some improvements had been made, most likely to help any surface Gelfling finding their way to Domrak, which had seen an increase in visits from other clans in recent trine. Golden lanterns lined the stalactite ceiling of the main tunnel, along with a carefully-planted trail of bioluminescent vegetation along the floor, mimicking a sort of road or pathway. The lights of the lanterns got dimmer the further in they went, however, which they guessed served as a way to help ease the transition from light to dark, and vice versa.

Even with this new inset of precautions, Rian still found himself almost overflowing with anxiety helping Deet watch her steps and making sure she was okay and if she needed rest, as well as the wide-eyed and curious five-trine-old that stumbled in front of them, not really paying attention to where he was going.

"Are you sure you don't need to rest a moment?" he asked, carefully guiding Deet along the bumpy path. "We can stop to sit for a while."

Deet could feel her back beginning to ache something fierce, and her feet were surely swollen, but she shook her head, and tried to offer her husband a reassuring grin. "We're almost there. I can see - aahh..."

Rian's heart jumped when she suddenly groaned a little. Her face twisted in pain, and her hand flew up to the side of her abdomen.

"Oh, Thra, what's wrong? What's hurting?" he asked hurriedly.

"Ah.." she hissed, shaking her head. "Just... just a little twinge, is all.."

Rian huffed and look around, his eyes settling on a low rock ahead of them. "Here, sit down, love." He gently guided her, and once she was seated, he knelt down to her level, holding her hands. "Are you all right? Yesmit! I knew we shouldn't have come." he cursed, shaking his head. "These could be labor pains."

"Don't worry, it might not be that." Deet assured him. "And please, try not to curse in front of - " she stopped suddenly when she looked up, her face falling as she looked around. She gasped. "Where's Jen?"

Rian's stomach dropped, and he too looked around for his little son, to no avail. He stood straight and called out. "Jen?! JEN!"

Deet's ears twitched when she heard laughter coming from somewhere down the tunnel to their left. "I-I hear him! Left tunnel! Jen!" She tried to stand, only for Rian to grab her shoulders and try to ease her back down.

"Deet, wait, just wait, I'll go find him - "

"No, Rian!" she snapped, smacking his hands away and glaring up at him with wild black eyes. "It was my idea to come here, and I'll be damned if my son gets hurt! Even you still don't know these caves like I do, he could be in danger! Now help me up!"

Rian was silent for a split second. Deet rarely ever got angry with him, but seeing it was for a good reason, as it was partly his fault for not keeping an eye on his son, he didn't press her further, and helped her to stand. They continued to shout as they made their way down the tunnel.

Jen looked around in wonder at his surroundings in the dark tunnel. Blue firebugs danced in his vision, and he chased them until he came around a corner, and his attention averted to something else glowing and blue that grew along the stone wall in patches.

Moss. Glow moss. Just what they came here for.

He squealed in delight and practically ran down the tunnel, grabbing handfuls of it as he went.

Again, however, he hadn't quite been paying attention, and suddenly collided with something around the next turn.

Jen hadn't been hurt, only landing on his bottom upon impact, but it was what he ran into that put him in near shock.

He'd bumped into the leg of some creature... with eight of those long legs. It turned to face him, looking at the boy with six beady red eyes on a triangular head. The strange creature had let out a startled hiss upon being ran into, which turned into a more curious one along with odd chirps and clicking noises. Jen let out a short scream and dropped the moss clutched in his hands, running back in the direction he came.

It wasn't long before he ran into another leg - two, this time, actually - and before he knew it, Jen was being lifted into the arms of his frantic father, who hugged him close and tight with the childling's face in his neck.

"Oh, Jen! Thank Thra!" he gasped out. He held the childling out to face him for a moment, and Jen, even as young as he was, was sure he'd never seen his father so scared. "Don't you EVER run off like that again, you hear me?! Your mother and I were scared half to death!"

Jen nodded, then looked behind Rian where he heard Deet's voice approaching them. "Rian?! Rian, did you find him?!" she called. Rian turned, with Jen once again hugged close to him.

"I've got him! He's all right."

"Oh, praise Thra!" Deet exclaimed breathlessly as she appeared around the corner, leaning against the wall and holding her belly.

Jen's ears perked at the sound of something scuttling along the walls, coming toward them. He whimpered as the creature he'd collided with suddenly appeared, and he cried out, throwing his hands around his father's neck and hiding his face. Deet let out a yelp, as did Rian when he turned to face it. It let out a few more clicks and hisses before Deet finally spoke.

"Oh, it's a Spitter! Hello, there!"

Jen found it odd that his mother seemed to know this monster, greeting it as she would a friend.

"Must be why Jen screamed." Rian commented. "I-I'm sorry, did my son here run into you?"

The Spitter nodded. "Oh, I'm sorry... you'll have to forgive him, this is his first time in the caves, and he's never seen an Arathim before. We were just on our way to Domrak and he ran off for a moment, so... apologies, friend." Rian explained. His voice was rather shaky as he spoke, much differently to how Deet had addressed the beast.

The Spitter nodded again and clicked a few more times before scuttling away, its long legs clacking against the wall back into the depths of the caves.

Rian sighed, and turned to walk back to the main tunnel. He still held a scared Jen in one arm, his other linked tightly with Deet's. She looked up at her husband worriedly, seeing his jaw set tight and uneasy eyes staring straight ahead.

"Rian?" she asked gently.

"You would think I'd be used to them again by now." Rian stated, voice laced with frustration. 

Jen, still curious as to how his parents seemed to know these odd creatures so well when he'd never once seen them before, lifted his face from Rian's neck. "Mama? Da? What was that?" he asked in his little voice. "I don't like it... it scary."

"I know, I don't blame you." Rian remarked. "They're called Silk Spitters, or Arathim. They're our allies, which means they fought alongside us during the war..." Rian trailed off. "... It wasn't always like that, though." He tried to keep his voice down at the end, but it was enough for Jen to hear him, and Deet who gave him warning look.

"Rian." she hissed under her breath.

"Why?" Jen asked. Rian mentally cursed himself. He didn't know how to explain it to his young son.

Deet caught onto this, and sighed. She didn't want to talk about it any more than he did, but she could see the look in his eyes; the one he got whenever he thought about something which usually led to a panic attack.

"Well... Gelfling and Arathim didn't always get along... once they fought like Gelfling fought the Skeksis." she explained. "But, even that war was the Skeksis fault. You see, Jen, the Arathim used to live in these caves long before the Grottan did, but the Skeksis... made them leave. It made the Arathim angry, so they attacked the Gelfling... this was back when Skeksis and Gelfling were allies."

"The Skeksis are mean." Jen commented.

Rian almost laughed at how innocent and understated that statement was. Almost.

"Well, they're locked away at the Castle, where the Mystics are keeping them under control until the Great Conjuction. They can't hurt anyone anymore." It was a reminder for Jen as well as himself.

"And neither can the Spitters." Deet soothed, reaching up to stroke Jen's hair. "Now, they live here with the Grottan in peace, as they should."

Rian nodded. "That's true, but they still give me the creeps from time to... time..."

Rian trailed off again as they came to a stop at the end of the tunnel, where it opened onto a stone staircase that led to the village in which Deet had been raised in: Domrak, home of the Grottan Gelfling, and a great number of Arathim, as well. Silk Spitters were everywhere, almost in greater numbers than the Gelfling, who could be seen interacting with the giant arachnids. Just like the entrance to the tunnel, everything was built anew, with homes dedicated to serve both Gelfling and Arathim alike. Deet's fathers would tell them about how much the village had changed whenever they visited, but it still shocked Rian and Deet to see just how different it was from when they had last been there. It was an odd, yet beautiful sight.

Jen looked on in amazement as Rian set him down. The sight was even greater than the light in the tunnel. Deet smiled at her son's awe-stricken features, and walked up behind him, placing her hands on his little shoulders. She too admired the view in silent wonder, nearly on the verge of tears, finally home again after what felt like forever. Then, she looked dat her husband and laughed, seeing his mouth agape and eyes wide, strikingly similar to Jen.

"Well, Rian," She reached and linked their hands. "It looks like you'll have to get used to the creeps now, too."

Rian smiled and turned his head to her, looking at her lovingly, under the blue light that surrounded them. The journey to Grot had a rough and scary start, much like their lives up until this point, but it was worth it. At the end of the day, despite everything they'd been through, Arathim or no Arathim, he still had his beautiful family to look after. He and Deet looked down at their little son, and both silently agreed that they would go through it all again, all the terror and fighting, if it meant they got to bring their children into a new age of peace, full of glow moss and Silk Spitters and all.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for an artist on tumblr (myfanartblogplusshippingtrash), who offered to draw some fan art in return, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint, so I was not about to disappoint them!
> 
> This does not mean I will take commissions very often, however. I have other writing projects I don't want to keep waiting too long. When I do take suggestions, it will only be for short stories such as this. Thanks for reading, and thanks to the lovely person who gave me the prompt!


End file.
